Publication Ethics & Malpractice Statement

The International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology (IJARIT) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics, scientific integrity, and editorial transparency. IJARIT follows the core principles and guidance published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in all matters of editorial decision-making, authorship, peer review integrity, and misconduct handling.

All parties involved in the publishing process — authors, editors, peer reviewers, and the publisher — are expected to understand, agree to, and observe these ethical standards. For details of the manuscript evaluation workflow itself, see Peer Review & Ethics.

1. Authorship Criteria

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, data analysis, or interpretation of the study. All listed authors must:

  • Approve the final version of the manuscript prior to submission.
  • Agree to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the study but do not meet full authorship criteria (e.g., technical assistance, general supervision, or funding acquisition alone) should be recognized in the Acknowledgements section rather than listed as authors. Any change to the author list after submission — addition, removal, or reordering — requires written consent from all authors and a justification submitted to the Editor-in-Chief.

2. Conflicts of Interest & Funding Disclosure

  • Authors must disclose, at submission, any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could be perceived to influence the reported research, including consultancy fees, patents, or affiliations with organizations that have a stake in the outcome.
  • Funding Statement: Authors must disclose all sources of research funding and state the role (if any) of the funding body in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.
  • Editors recuse themselves from processing manuscripts in which they have competing financial, personal, or collaborative relationships with any author or institution involved.
  • Reviewers must decline an invitation to review where a conflict of interest exists and must notify the handling editor promptly.

3. Data Availability

Authors are encouraged to make the data underlying their findings publicly available through an appropriate repository or as supplementary material, or to state that data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Where data cannot be shared (e.g., for legal, ethical, or proprietary reasons), authors must state this and the reason at submission.

4. Plagiarism & Publication Integrity Policy

IJARIT maintains a zero-tolerance policy for academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, self-plagiarism, text recycling, data fabrication/falsification, and duplicate or redundant submission.

  • Screening Protocol: All submitted manuscripts undergo mandatory similarity screening using automated detection tools (Turnitin/iThenticate) prior to peer review. (See Peer Review & Ethics for how this fits into the overall evaluation workflow.)
  • Acceptable Thresholds:
    • Overall similarity must not exceed 15% (excluding reference lists, institutional affiliations, and standard methodology phrasing).
    • Single-source similarity must remain below 3%.
    • Manuscripts exceeding these thresholds are returned for revision or desk-rejected prior to external review.
  • Handling Misconduct: Suspected pre- or post-publication plagiarism, data manipulation, or duplicate submission is investigated by the Editorial Board in accordance with official COPE flowcharts. Confirmed misconduct will result in immediate rejection or retraction, formal notification to the authors' host institution(s), and a restriction on future submissions to the journal for a defined period, proportionate to the severity of the breach.

5. Policy on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine-Generated Tools

  • Authorship Eligibility: AI tools, Large Language Models (LLMs, e.g., ChatGPT, Claude), or other automated writing software do not qualify for authorship. Authorship carries legal and ethical accountability that AI systems cannot assume.
  • Disclosure Requirement: Where AI tools are used to assist with language editing, translation, grammar correction, or preliminary data formatting, authors must disclose this in the Materials and Methods or Acknowledgements section, stating the specific tool name, version, purpose of use, and scope of the prompts used.
  • Image & Data Integrity: Generating synthetic experimental figures, artificial field-sampling datasets, micro-photographs, or biochemical assay results using generative AI constitutes data fabrication and will result in immediate manuscript rejection and the sanctions described in Section 4.

6. Research Ethics & Human/Animal Welfare

  • Animal and Livestock Research: Studies involving live animals (poultry, livestock, fish, rodents, etc.) must comply with recognized national or institutional guidelines (e.g., Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee — IACUC) and the manuscript must state compliance and cite the official ethics approval reference number.
  • Human Subjects & Socio-Economic Surveys: Research involving human participants — including agricultural economics surveys, consumer studies, or sensory evaluations — must include evidence of informed consent and institutional review board (IRB) approval, or a documented exemption.
  • Field & Environmental Studies: Field trials involving agricultural chemicals, pest-management agents, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or invasive species must state compliance with relevant national biosecurity regulations and environmental safety frameworks.

7. Duties and Responsibilities of Stakeholders

A. Duties of Editors

  • Impartiality: Publication decisions are based solely on scientific merit, originality, clarity, and relevance to the journal's scope, without regard to author race, gender, nationality, institutional affiliation, or political beliefs.
  • Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff will not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, designated reviewers, and the publisher.
  • Conflicts of Interest: As described in Section 2.

B. Duties of Peer Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decisions: Reviewers assist the Editorial Board by providing constructive, evidence-based, and objective feedback.
  • Promptness & Confidentiality: Reviewers who feel unqualified to assess a manuscript, or who cannot meet the review deadline, must notify the handling editor promptly. Manuscripts under review are confidential and must not be shared or discussed with third parties.
  • Objectivity: Reviews must be conducted without personal criticism of the authors.

(For the review workflow itself — desk screening, review stages, and decision categories — see Peer Review & Ethics)

8. Appeals Process

Authors who disagree with an editorial decision may submit a formal, written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief within 14 days of the decision, stating the specific grounds for reconsideration. Appeals are evaluated, where warranted, with input from an independent editor or reviewer not involved in the original decision. The outcome of the appeal is final.

9. Post-Publication Policy: Withdrawals, Corrections, and Retractions

  • Article Withdrawal: Corresponding authors may request withdrawal within 7 days of initial submission without penalty. Once a manuscript has completed peer review, entered typesetting, or been formally published, it cannot be arbitrarily withdrawn.
  • Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda): Minor errors or omissions that do not affect the scientific conclusions of a published paper are addressed through a formal Correction Notice, linked directly to the original article, in the next available issue.
  • Retractions: An article will be retracted where there is clear evidence of unreliable findings (due to misconduct or honest error), plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical research conduct. Retraction notices state the reason for retraction and the party issuing it, and are permanently linked to the original article.
  • Misconduct Allegations: The Editorial Board investigates complaints regarding authorship disputes, data falsification, or other ethical breaches in accordance with COPE procedures, giving all parties a fair opportunity to respond.

To report suspected ethical misconduct, data manipulation, or a publication dispute, contact the Editorial Office at editor@ijarit.online or editor.ijarit@gmail.com.

[Last updated: 1 September 2026]